Monthly Archives: February 2017

Today, I am talking with Valerie McCaffrey. She is a producer and Casting Director in Hollywood with dozens of film credits. She recently shared her new project with me, and I decided to introduce it to you. In light of the current events it’s hard not to mention that Valerie is the third generation of immigrants to the US.

Valerie McCaffrey

I want once again to stress the point that people come from other countries not because they just decided to take another trip, to forget their culture, their social level, or to leave their friends behind. Those who are lucky not to have this experience need to know that it takes a lot of courage to go through these tremendous changes and adjust to a new culture. Valerie is an example of how immigrants, even generations later, contribute to their new culture that in time becomes native.

We have a common interest in socially relevant stories, which is why her latest project touched me. If you are interested in seeing films that matter produced, I hope you’ll join her Indiegogo campaign mentioned at the end of this article.

Please meet Valerie!

Valerie, when we met at the Columbus Film Festival you shared with me that your grandparents are from Armenia. What was the reason that they left?

My grandparents are survivors of the Armenian genocide in 1915. Religious profiling happened both in the Armenian and Jewish community. It was horrific.

Dirty Bomb is a Jewish prisoner trying to survive, but in the end he secretly saves the lives of others by sacrificing his own. I want to tell that story.

So, tell us about your latest film project.

“Dirty Bomb” based on a true story… Signing his own death wish, a Jewish concentration camp prisoner sabotages the construction of the V-2 bomb against the Nazis, while American soldiers struggle to advance against the Germans.

There are so many stories during the war, this one is essentially unknown. I want to bring them to life and light. Here is a very little known fact: Werner Van Braun, who designed this V-2 missile, designed the Apollo 13 space shuttle. Hitler took advantage of Van Braun’s passion for space travel, which ended up killing thousands of soldiers while 200 Jewish prisoners were hung for the sabotage causing the bomb to misfire.

How will you promote the film?

I plan on doing a festival run and develop into a feature. Whiplash was developed that way.

Bob Shaye, former owner CEO of New Line is one contributor—he is our Associate Producer. We have wonderful actors such as Ido Samuel from “Fill the Void”, (the largest grossing Israeli film in the US) Christopher Heyerdahl from Twilight, J. Michael Trautmann from Shameless.

I understand the current phase is being paid by crowd funding?

Indiegogo is a site where crowd funding makes things happen and making this short film, is one of the many projects Indiegogo supports. The goal is to get the community involved in this project— they believe in it and support the story. Each project has a deadline to raise contributions. Our end date is February 28. Here’s a brief video that explains it all. https://youtu.be/CypSN8Het3Y

What’s the goal for this Indiegogo campaign?

The goal is to raise enough money to create/build the concentration camp and tunnel where the V-2 bomb was built. I want to develop this story into a film. There is interest now.

How can readers get involved?

Readers can contribute money to make it happen. Even from $10.00 on up-anyone can be involved and receive a perk from the movie! As the film begins shooting, we will keep everyone in the loop on the progress. It will be everyone’s film.